This is the time of year when all young men dream of attending a summer camp, I know I did. Growing up in Washington, D.C., I loved getting away from the big city noise and heading for a quiet peaceful summer camp in the country. The sounds I remember were the splashes of putting the canoes into the lake and the joyous shrieks of the other kids jumping into the cool water of a swimming pool.

The world of today is not the world I grew up in. As a child I was not really exposed to World War II although the conflict in Europe was all the talk around D.C. I was allowed the luxury of growing up as a child. I was not exposed to war, hatred and terrorism. We sang songs like; “Not going to study war no more,” and I was taught to love others at Vacation Bible School in the midst of arts and crafts projects. Read more »

The former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, hosted a Jewish delegation headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who visited Poland on June 13 for the opening of the new exhibition at the Auschwitz museum. This new exposition features “the murder at Auschwitz in the larger context of the Nazis’ systematic attempt to exterminate the Jewish people.”

The “Shoah” Holocaust Display (contemporary Hebrew, literally meaning; catastrophe) is located in the original “Cell Block 27,” the oldest part of the camp set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland. This setting was the most notorious of the Nazi death camps. More than a million Jews died in Auschwitz and the adjacent Birkenau death camp in gas chambers or from starvation, disease and forced labor. They were systematically murdered between 1940 and 1945. Read more »

UN Estimates 93,000 killed in Syrian conflict

How many people have to die before enough is enough? The news out of Geneva from the United Nations’ human rights office reported that there have been 93,000 confirmed killings in the Syrian uprising, but the actual number is thought to be much higher.

A separate analysis of the dead was commissioned by the U.N from a San Francisco-based nonprofit Human Rights Data Group which says that 263,000 reported killings were studied. Some of those listed were lacking a name, date and location of death so they were just crossed off the list and a few duplicates were also found. Read more »

First day of the week in Jerusalem means a somber cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, deciding the fate and future of Israel, perhaps the world, since Israel is so pivotal in the end times.

The main topic this week was a possible military action along the Syrian border. Netanyahu explained that the vacuum left by departing United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights area has created a hole in their security. “When it comes to Israel’s security, we can only depend on ourselves,” he said. Read more »

Don’t let the media news get you down. These are special days in which to live. We should be looking forward to the fulfillment of scripture, the catching up of the church in the air and His return to the earth. That ought to be worth a good shout!

Every morning when I check the news, it makes me want to SHOUT, “Even so Lord Jesus come quickly!” Make a joyful noise unto the Lord and sing His praises for all He has done and all that He is about to do.

We have a lot to SHOUT about. Psalm 98 tells us that even the sea roars, the rivers clap and the hills are joyful before the Lord. Read more »

Iran is fast approaching their presidential election this Friday as newspapers splash pictures of their favorite candidates across the front pages, but no matter who wins, you can be sure they are hardliners against Israel and the U.S. and are all proponents of Iran becoming a nuclear power.

Countries monitoring Iran’s nuclear program have picked up information that Tehran’s only power-producing nuclear reactor was damaged by one or more of several recent earthquakes, with long cracks appearing in at least one section of the reactor’s structure. Read more »

Thousands of Palestinian Authority Arabs participated in a mass rally in Ramallah earlier this week. Ramallah is a Palestinian city located within the West Bank region, 15 km north of Jerusalem. They were calling for the establishment of the Muslim Caliphate, which is an Islamic form of government representing the political unity and religious leadership of the Muslim world.

The Caliphate is to be led by the all-powerful Mahdi (messiah), who will unite all Muslims and establish Islam as the dominant religion in the world. He will rule for several years and then the “Day of Judgment” will come. Read more »

“In response to repeated provocations by Egypt, the State of Israel and the IDF are going to war. We will not sit idly as the enemy forces tighten the noose around our necks,” said the Israeli Defense Forces after 46 years of silence.

No word from Israel is like no letter from home, but not to worry! This might just be the calm before the storm. All hell could break loose at a moment’s notice in the Middle East. Sometimes no news can even be good news. Read more »

According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis said this past week, “The Lord has redeemed all of us … with the Blood of Christ, not just Catholics, even the atheists, everyone!” Pope Francis explained that the Blood of Christ promised redemption for everyone engaged in doing good works.

This statement would also seem to include Muslims and Hindus or anyone else who does “good works.” This brings up the question though, how many good works does it take to be redeemed? Most Christians do believe that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient for all, but it’s only effectual for those who actually accept the work of Jesus on the cross. Read more »

The Arab Spring turned into an Arab Winter in the Middle East. When the darkness of violence passed, it turned into the dawn of a new day. Some were hoping for true democracy but ended up with an Islamic State where majority rules.

Now we see open revolt in the streets of Turkey that is being called the “Turkish Spring,” but it looks like a summer drought is coming. Islamization is on the rise in Turkey as secularists and moderates protest against the Islamic-rooted government in the streets and civil unrest continues to grow. Read more »